What methods do you gardeners use?

[Mikey N.C.]

Seemed to be more European hornet's here last year, but also wonder if the sugar water feeding , brings the yellow jackets in ?

[Les]

Now this post struck a chord with me.  I so dislike using any chemicals in the veggie gardens but I am tired of losing the battle to the striped cucumber beetle.  If they don't beat the bees to the pollen, they infect the plants with wilt.   I tried hand picking but the old back doesn't like that position.  My neighbor is going to use pyrethrum this year, so I might as well try it too.  My bees are in her yard anyway so they either get exposed in her yard, mine or both.  I use yogurt or cottage cheese containers (with the bottoms cut out) around the bottoms of my other plants so the cutworms can't get at them.  Having our new pup is keeping the squirrels away.  If I find aphids, usually a blast with the hose knocks them off.  Plant lots of nectar plants (flowers) and you will get the predatory wasps.  Also bee houses similar to the mason bee houses, they will feed the other bugs to the bee larva.  Last but certainly not least birds!  Hummingbirds love aphids!
Happy Gardening everyone! Not sure how much I will get in this year due to this doggone hip but I keep nibbling away at it.

[neillsayers]

Les,

You keep plugging away at it. I believe the healthiest activity in the world is gardening. I often say, " every hour spent in the dirt adds an hour to your life"

[brooksbeefarm]

Thanks Neill, i have a long life ahead of me if what you say is true? Jack

[Les]

At this point nothing but once the squash and pumpkins start flowering and that stinker striped cucumber beetle emerges, I am going to spread food grade diametacous earth around the plants. As far as the berry eaters, I do not like to use that plastic bird fencing, however, I discovered tulle (you know the stuff ballerina tutus are made from). If you can find it on sale, I buy it by the yards and lay it across my strawberries and cover my blueberry bushes with it.  I fastened it to the ground with those two pronged thingies.

[Alleyyooper]

I believe in marigolds, plant per raised bed 4'x8'. Also a firm believer in the pick pinch and drop in a gallon jar of water those pest you can catch. Mash them up real good and strain into a sprayer and spray the plants. I am guessing they don't like the flavor of their dead kin folks.
Normally how ever I don't have a problem since I started doing marigolds in th egarden.







2015 tomatoes



   Al

[Alleyyooper]

"Scientists have discovered that insects from cockroaches to caterpillars all emit the same stinky blend of fatty acids when they die, and this sinister stench sends bugs of all kinds running for their lives.

Biologist David Rollo of McMaster University in Canada made this morbid discovery while studying the social behavior of cockroaches. When a roach locates a great new abode (like your kitchen cupboard), it gives off a chemical signal to attract its cockroach friends. To determine the chemical composition of these pheromones, Rollo and his team started crushing dead cockroaches and spreading around their body juice.

“It was amazing to find that the cockroaches avoided places treated with these extracts like the plague,” Rollo said in a press release. “Naturally, we wanted to identify what chemical was making them all go away"


Here are some more I knew about but just decided to be lazy and let Ya'll check out the link.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/back-to-the-basics-hope-for-the-best-prepare-for-the-worst/how-to-make-your-own-garden-pest-sprays-more-recipes-added/428150725241/

four legged pest learn to enjoy rabbit stew, fried squirrel with biscuits and gravy, venison jerky just to name a few.

   Al